Italy's Prodi squirms after US base vote blunder

ROME, Feb 3 (Reuters) Italy's centre-right opposition demanded that Prime Minister Romano Prodi resign after his coalition suffered a setback in a parliamentary vote over a US airbase in Italy, but Prodi shrugged off the call.

Prodi's lawmakers could not agree on Thursday on a Senate motion in support of Defence Minister Arturo Parisi's decision to allow the expansion of the base in northern Italy, opposed by many on the left of the nine-party coalition.

Seeking to embarrass the Prodi government, which has a one-seat majority in the Senate, Silvio Berlusconi's centre right stepped in and presented its own motion of support for Parisi. It passed by 152 votes to 146.

Berlusconi said the vote had exposed how vulnerable the government was to squabbles constantly dividing its Catholics-to-communists members.

''I honestly believe that after this vote the prime minister has no choice other than to step down,'' Berlusconi said yesterday.

Trying to minimise the damage, Prodi said he would call a government meeting ''to reaffirm the foreign policy directives contained in the government programme''.

But he rejected the resignation calls. ''Berlusconi always asks for resignations. The fact that he did it again now could show that nothing new has happened,'' Prodi said.

''A government that does not have a majority on foreign policy issues lacks political legitimacy,'' he said.

A cabinet meeting on Friday also said Italy would respect its commitments within NATO, a reference to the next parliamentary hurdle facing the government -- the refinancing of Italy's military mission in Afghanistan.

Last week three leftist ministers refused to back a government decree that allows financing to continue for the 1,900 Italian troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force. The decree needs to parliament's approval by the end of March.

Prodi's centrist allies, some of whom voted with the opposition on Thursday, signalled growing impatience with the coalition's leftist members.

''The limit has been overstepped'', Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli said yesterday, referring to the Senate vote.

''If this was an alarm bell, then it should be the last.'' But Prodi faces threats of revolt from the moderate wing of his government too.

Justice Minister Clemente Mastella has said he would vote against plans to recognise same-sex unions, saying he would rather see the government fall then see a bill he considers immoral passed.

Reuters SBA VP0720